Simon leaned back, his mouth twisting into a smug grin. Misty reached over and patted his hand, looking at me with triumph in her eyes.

I did not react. I did not cry. I just sat there, my hands resting quietly in my lap. The Silent Scream.

Brenda did not look surprised. She looked at Simon’s lawyer, then at Jesse.

“Is that your position, Jesse?” Brenda asked quietly.

Jesse swallowed hard, his face turning red. He nodded once, still looking at the table.

Brenda reached into her drawer and pulled out a tablet. “Before we discuss the affidavit, Harrison wanted you to watch something.”

She pressed play.

On the screen, my father sat in his armchair, looking thin but completely alert. Dr. Charles sat opposite him, asking him the date, the time, and details about his properties. My father answered every question with sharp precision. He then looked directly at the camera.

“I am writing this will of my own free will,” my father said on the recording. “And I know exactly what Simon Chen has been doing to my business.”

Simon’s face went white as a sheet. He stood up, his chair scraping against the floor. “This is a setup.”

“Sit down, Mr. Chen,” Brenda said.

She then slid a thick blue folder across the table toward Simon’s lawyer.

“Inside you will find the forensic audit of Harrison Construction,” Brenda said. “Over the last 6 months, 242,500 dollars was wired from the corporate account to a shell company registered under your name, Simon. The authorization codes used belonged to Jesse. But we have the IP address logs. They trace back to your apartment. And we have the security footage from the office showing you at Jesse’s desk.”

Misty stood up, her voice shrill. “This is a lie! Simon, tell them it’s a lie!”

But Simon did not answer. He was staring at the bank traces, his mouth open.

The door to the office opened. Detective Miller and another officer walked in. They did not look at the lawyers. They went straight to Simon.

“Simon Chen, you are under arrest for grand larceny and wire fraud,” Detective Miller said.

The handcuffs clicked. The sound was incredibly loud in the quiet room.

Misty screamed, grabbing Simon’s arm, but the officers pushed her back. She turned to Jesse, her face twisted in panic. “Do something! You were in on this too!”

Jesse looked like he was going to throw up. He covered his face with his hands.